Normandy: A Father's Ship and a Son's Curiosity

Submitted by: David Cary

Category: Books

My father-in-law asked me to find out what happened to his U.S. Navy ship, which had been at the Battle of Normandy on D-Day. I had been a Vietnam-era infantry sergeant, so his world was quite different than mine. I soon found myself deeply interested and after two years, we now have this book.
The PC 552 entered World War II in September 1942 and protected convoys up and down the American Atlantic coast. It battled German U-boats and was credited with one kill. It then convoyed landing craft to England to get ready for D-Day. On D-Day, the PC 552 was one of the Navy craft closest to the beach soon called "Bloody Omaha." It traded fire with the Germans and came close to being taken out by German 88's, but was saved at the last minute by an American destroyer.
This is the story of this ship and its crew, with many eyewitness accounts and interviews with surviving crew members.

About the author:

David Cary grew up in Northern California, including in an old mining town in the Mother Lode country where he attended a one-room schoolhouse built in 1860. He spent four years as an NCO in the Infantry in the 1970s and is an expert rifleman and graduate of the NCO Academy. He is a CPA and served as the chief financial officer of a company when it went public on the NASDAQ. He now lives in Dallas with his wife, Stacy, and children. History is one of his passions, the other being his wife.